Binding clip

ABSTRACT

A clip for mounting a thermoplastic part on a support, the clip integrated with the part having a body extended by a nose carrying rims for snap-fastening on the support, ribs coming into abutment against the outside surface of the support.

The present invention relates to an integrated fastener or fasteningclip intended particularly but not exclusively for fixing parts made ofthermoplastic material and provided with such fasteners onto metalparts, in particular in motor manufacture.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Traditionally, such fastenings are made by means of discrete fittedelements such as rivets, plastics material fasteners, or screws wherethe thread engages in a hole or opening in the support while the headholds captive the plastics part that is to be fixed thereto. Althoughthat kind of assembly is easy to disassemble, it is expensive because itleads to making additional tooling. Furthermore, such fastening by meansof discrete fitted elements costs a great deal of labor time.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to mitigate that drawback and toenable fixing to be performed instantly and blind, and also to providefixing that is capable of being taken apart without destroying orspoiling the surfaces that come into contact with the metal support. Theinvention can also be used for clipping parts onto supports that are notmade of metal but that do have sharp edges.

Independent clips have already been proposed.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,701,984 describes a clip made of plastics material forfixing a printed circuit inside a metal box. Its body comprises a fixingportion for inserting into a polygonal opening and a holding portionwhich keeps the printed circuit at a distance from the wall of the box.The printed circuit is thus clamped between the head and the holdingportion.

In U.S. Pat. No. 5,542,148, the two parts to be united are assembledtogether by means of a metal spring snapped into a flexible housing andpressing laterally against said housing.

A second object of the invention is to enable a thermoplastic part to befixed in leakproof manner on a support.

The integrated clip for fixing a thermoplastic part onto a support, inparticular a metal support, is integrated in said part by being moldedtherewith. As a result, the integrated clip is entirely suitable forrecycling without taking precautions to remove a fitted element forsubsequent sorting. Thermoplastic parts, in particular for cars, aremade by injection, and the clips can thus be obtained directly merely atthe cost of making the mold slightly more complicated. The inventionthus avoids providing housings for receiving fitted clips which wouldgive rise to assembly costs.

According to the invention, an integrated plastics material clip forfixing a part on a support, in particular a support made of metal,comprises a hollow body terminated at one of its ends by a nose ofdimensions that are smaller than those of the body, and at least onesubstantially triangular snap-fastening rim projecting from the nose todefine a snap-fastening zone that is to receive the edge of the supportby elasticity and to hold the integrated clip in the support.

The flexibility of the plastics material enables the nose of theintegrated clip to be inserted into the orifice and enables theprojecting rims to be retracted until the clip occupies a predefinedposition in which the metal sheet, or more generally the support, isclamped between the body of the integrated clip and the snap-fasteningrims.

According to another characteristic of the invention, a spacerinterconnects the two sides of the nose and the side walls of the body,thereby forming a cross plate.

According to another characteristic of the invention, two side bearingribs serve as abutments for the integrated clip on the support.

The sides constituting the nose of the clip are of increasing thicknessand consequently flexible, and they can be assembled and disassembled inopenings having respective surrounding flanges formed directly in thesheet metal, and they make this possible without the quality and thestate of the snap-fastening rims being degraded. It is commonplace, thatin general the edges of cutouts are sharp and that consequently directinsertion of the integrated clip would damage specifically thesnap-fastening rims, so that the leakproofing and the quality of fixingdeteriorates after a few assembly and disassembly operations.

In accordance with the invention, the support having surrounding flangesenables the positions of the sharp zones to be changed. The sides of theV-shaped nose can thus slide over the edges of the support without beingdamaged, and they enable the nose to take up its final position.

Such parts are disassembled only occasionally, when specific problemsarise. The thermoplastic material constituting the integrated clip istherefore selected in such a manner as to be suitable for surviving ascore of assembly and disassembly operations.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other characteristics and advantages of the present invention willappear on reading the following description of a particular embodiment,given purely by way of non-limiting example, and with reference to thefigures, in which:

FIGS. 1 to 4 show the various positions of the portions of theintegrated clip while it is being inserted and fixed in a cutout;

FIG. 5 shows the clip during disassembly; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an integrated clip of the invention.

MORE DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In FIGS. 1 to 6, the same references are used to designate the sameelements. The purpose of the integrated clip is to fix a part 1, e.g.made of thermoplastic material, onto a support 2, e.g. made of metal,and having a cutout 2 f which, in the example shown, is rectangular. Anintegrated clip given overall reference 11 projects from the part 1towards the support 2, the clip comprising a hollow body constituted bytwo sloping trapezoidal faces, the body 3 terminating at its leading endin a cross plate 6 interconnecting the two faces of the body 3 and fromwhich there projects a V-shaped nose 4 of width that is smaller than thewidth of the sides of the body 3.

Snap-fastening rims 5 are formed on the sides of the trailing portion ofthe nose 4, these rims being constituted by substantially triangularwalls that form a snap-fastening zone 8 immediately after the rims 5.The V-shaped nose 4 serves to center and direct the clip until it takesup the position shown in FIG. 2, thus making it possible to assemble thepart blind, i.e. without having to seek out its proper position.

FIG. 1 shows the part 1 and the support 2 before the integrated clip 11penetrates into the cutout or opening 2 f in the direction of arrow F.In the description below, it is assumed that the support remainsstationary and that the integrated clip moves relative to the support.Naturally, all that is required is relative movement between the parts.

In FIG. 2, the nose 4 a has penetrated into the hole 2 f and the sidesof the nose 4 are in contact with the edges of the metal sheet 2.

As the movement continues (FIG. 3), the nose 4 penetrates into the hole2 f, with the hole pressing sideways against the two rims 5 of theintegrated clip. Under the combined effect of the assembly force and thepressure exerted by the edges of the support 2, as represented by arrowsf1, the sides of the nose deform inwards and the cross plate 6 takes upa curved shape, bulging in the opposite direction to arrow F. This givesrise to tilting motion at the center 12 of the junction between the nose4 and the sides of the body 3, thus tending to reduce the assembly forceF. As soon as the abutments 7 of the clip have made contact with thesupport 2, assembly forces cease to be applied on the nose 4 and itreturns to its initial shape by elasticity, thereby holding the support2 and the tip face of its flange captive between the rim 5 and theabutment 7 of the clip. The clip is held by the contact of the abutment7 and of the rim 5 on the support 2, as can be seen in FIG. 4, whereresistance to extraction is represented by arrow F1. When a tractionforce F1 is applied to the part, this force is transmitted via the sides3 of the body, which causes the center 12 to perform a tilting movementthat presses the rims 5 against the support 2 thus increasing retentionof the clip.

A clipped part 1 is removed in the opposite direction to that describedabove, i.e. by pulling on the part 1 or on its integrated clip 11, withthe integrated clip successively taking up the positions shown in FIGS.4, 5, 2, and 1, the elasticity of the material serving to return to theconfiguration shown in FIG. 1 after the nose 4 has been extracted.

As shown in FIG. 5, when the extraction force becomes too great, thecross plate 6 curves in the opposite direction to that in which itcurved during assembly, as represented by arrows f2, and the sides ofthe nose 4 deform, thereby releasing the entire clip from the support 2.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an integrated clip of the invention,with the part 1 being omitted. The cutout 2 f in the support isrectangular and two opposite flexible lips respectively 7 a and 7 b areprovided extending in the longitudinal direction of the cutout and ofthe integrated clip, the lips extending the cross plate 6 and coveringthe entire area of the opening 2 f, with assembly and disassembly takingplace as described above.

Although the above description is given using as an example anintegrated clip having two sides for penetrating into a rectangularcutout in a support and having a surrounding flange, the same structurecan naturally be used with a clip whose section is square or circular.Similarly, although it is economically advantageous for the clips to beintegrated with the part made of plastics material, it is clear thatthey could be constituted as discrete hidden fastening elements and thatnumerous variants can be provided, in particular by substitutingequivalent technical means, without thereby going beyond the ambit ofthe invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A clip of plastic material for fixing a part to asupport, wherein the clip is integrated in the part and comprises ahollow body terminated at one end by a nose of dimensions that aresmaller than the dimensions of the body, wherein the nose projects froma cross plate connected to the body, at least one substantiallytriangular snap-fastening rim projecting from the nose to define asnap-fastening zone designed to receive an edge of the support byelasticity and to hold the integrated clip on the support.
 2. A clipaccording to claim 1, wherein the body is extended by ribs serving asabutments for the integrated clip against the support.
 3. A clipaccording to claim 1, wherein the body has two trapezoidal sides, thenose being V-shaped with each of its sides having a snap-fastening rim.4. A clip according to claim 1 wherein the nose includes sides that areattached to the cross plate, wherein the sides of the nose have amaximum width that is smaller than the width of the side portions of thebody connected to the cross plate.
 5. A clip according to claim 1,wherein the body is of a width that is greater than the width of thenose.
 6. A clip according to claim 1, wherein abutments serve to holdthe support against each of the at least one snap-fastening rim of thenose.
 7. A clip according to claim 1, wherein the cross plate isextended in the axial direction of the clip by two projecting flexiblelips, which press against the support and provide sealing.
 8. A clipaccording to claim 1, wherein the clip is an injection-moldedthermoplastic part.